Rossi pads slim lead

Unofficial results of Kitsap County's recount of votes for governor left Democrat Christine Gregoire 34 votes closer to Republican Dino Rossi. Gregoire picked up 15 votes, while Rossi lost 19. The results won't be official until the election is certified today.

Original Recount +/ Rossi 57,712 57,693 19 Gregoire 56,149 56,164 +15

By David Ammons

The Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Republican Dino Rossi kept his razor-thin lead in the Washington governor's race as counties faced a deadline today for recounting 2.8 million ballots — and girded for yet another possible recount.

Both political parties were poised to request a rare hand recount if they don't like Wednesday's results. That count would take until nearly Christmas to complete.

"It looks like that's the only way we'll ever break this tie," state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said Tuesday.

GOP Chairman Chris Vance said he expects Rossi to win today's count and called on Democrat Christine Gregoire to "do the decent thing, the honorable thing and concede, instead of dragging this into the Christmas season with the state not knowing who the governor is."

Gregoire's camp said that she still expects to win, and that a manual recount would make sure every valid ballot is counted.

The last unsettled governor's race in the country has drawn the attention of both national parties, including the Bush White House, which dispatched its election experts, and the Democratic Governors' Association, which has offered to help finance a new hand recount of at least part of the state.

With all but three of the state's 39 counties reporting by Tuesday afternoon, Rossi had gained a net 55 votes over Gregoire, for a 316-vote lead. Still recounting were King, Kitsap and Whitman counties.

According to an unofficial tally released by Kitsap County Auditor Karen Flynn, Gregoire picked up a net gain of 34 votes over Rossi in Kitsap County.

More than 700 previously uncounted ballots were added to King's total after election workers, under the close watch of party observers, "enhanced" ballots to reflect the voters' intent. An example would be a ballot on which a voter circled the candidate's name, rather than filling in the oval for the optical scanner machine to read.

Gregoire carried eight of the state's 39 counties in the original count, with her strong King County showing offsetting Rossi's strength elsewhere.

"We're upbeat," Gregoire's campaign director Tim Zenk said in a teleconference. "It's a seesaw, up and down thing. ... We've always stood for the idea of `count every ballot and we'll win.'"

Secretary of State Sam Reed said he plans to certify the first recount next Tuesday. The campaigns or their parties have three business days to request a full or partial manual recount and have to foot the bill.

Reed said he'd probably direct that such a recount begin the following Monday, Dec. 6. He estimated the job would take about two weeks, probably stretching into Christmas week.

If a partial recount changes the outcome, then state law requires Reed to order a manual recount in the rest of the state. That would drive the process past Christmas.

The new governor, succeeding retiring two-term Democrat Gary Locke, is to be inaugurated Jan. 12. Both Gregoire and Rossi have named transition teams.

State Republicans already have a court date next Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The GOP wants King County to exclude ballots rejected by machines from the machine recount because they must be checked by hand — a process the Republicans say doesn't happen in counties that use punchcard ballots.

In an interview, Vance said Gregoire should concede if Rossi wins the machine recount.

But Berendt laid the groundwork for another recount, offering examples of "missing ballots, found ballots, machine malfunctions, machine error rates and a razor-thin difference between the candidates."

Snohomish County found a previously unrecorded 224 votes, Grant found 66 new ballots and Cowlitz County subtracted 69 votes, he said.

Many of the counties reported changes of between zero and three votes. Pierce, though, added 261 votes to Rossi's column and 242 to Gregoire. Spokane added 134 to Rossi and 121 to Gregoire, and Snohomish added 130 for Rossi and 131 for Gregoire. Adams, Cowlitz, Grant, Kittitas, Skagit, and Walla Walla also reported double-digit changes.

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